There was a human Pennywise the Dancing Clown, but IT just takes his form. In the movie canon, Pennywise the Dancing Clown was a real person whose image IT decided was a terrifying enough basis for his child-scaring campaign.
“Pennywise the Clown” was never human. He doesn't have a “backstory” in that sense. He was never anything other than what he is in the book.
Pennywise's origins are briefly explored in both the book and It: Chapter Two, where it's revealed that he is a being that crash-landed on Earth from another dimension hundreds of years ago.
No. Pennywise the Clown himself is not real. Stephen King himself has composed a small write up which he posted directly on his website, explaining his original inspiration for the idea of IT and the fictional, killer clown.
Its physical form lives in our world as a shape-shifting manifestation of your worst nightmares, but in King's novel things get much, much weirder, Its true form is a Lovecraftian, ambiguous demigod that lives in the so-called Macroverse -- an unnameable and unknowable malevolent force that considers itself Eternal.
Stephen King's 'IT' introduced readers to a one-of-a-kind creature that can take any form, the most common one being Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and as menacing as it is, this creature has one big enemy it's truly scared of: Maturin, the turtle.
A god of destruction, not just of our world, but of multiple worlds and even multiple universes. It originated in a vast cosmic void between worlds that has been called, at times, the Macroverse, and in King's Dark Tower series, the Todash Darkness, in a space It refers to only as the Deadlights.
Pennywise/IT preys on the children of Derry because their fears are easier to manifest into a physical form and harvest.
As well as having his right arm bitten off, Georgie is trying to crawl away but he was dragged into the sewers and devoured by Pennywise, with an unnamed older woman and her cat being the sole witnesses of the horrific scene, including before Georgie lost his arm.
Kersh is Pennywise's daughter.
So basically, in the book, Bill heeds the advice of the gigantic, wise turtle god, completes the Ritual of Chüd, and defeats It using the tongue twister that's meant to help his stutter: "He thrusts his fists against the post, but still insists he sees the ghost." And don't even get us started on what happens the ...
It's weaknesses are courage and heart. For the sake of spoilers, I won't go too much into the Ritual of Chüd, but suffice it to say that if you want to defeat It, you've got to have the two traits listed above.
Humiliated, Pennywise begins to shrink, transforming into an almost Benjamin Button–like, melted clown-baby.
Muschietti appears to be implying Pennywise was a human familiar who It corrupted and then enjoyed so much It incorporated his shape into its file cabinet of monsters.
Immortality: Its earthly avatar has existed on Earth for thousands if not millions of years. Its true form has existed even longer in the Macroverse (a void outside of time and space that surrounds our own universe).
Literature. In the novel, It is a shapeshifting monster who usually takes the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, originating in a void containing and surrounding the Universe—a place referred to in the novel as the "Macroverse".
Image via Warner Bros. Finally, Pennywise is beaten into submission. He scurries away, utters the word "fear," and partially disintegrates before falling into the void. It's a powerful defeat of a powerful monster, and it's satisfaction enough were IT to remain a single film.
If you are talking about the science when Georgie dies, Pennywise was thinking about his first meal in 27 years, and in Pennywise's words, fear in a kid is like “salting the meat.” So, when Georgie was laughing, Pennywise knew Georgie was not scared so he stopped laughing to make sure he was still fearful.
Throughout Stephen King's It, Pennywise is referred to as a male, but author Stephen King pulled a fast one on readers in the It book ending by revealing the creature's true form was a pregnant spider, implying that it is, in fact, biologically female.
First we have to clarify that Pennywise doesn't kill, he is basically an illusion, It kills. It kills children because they are safer to kill then adults. Children are relatively powerless and most people (outside of friends and family) soon forget about them.
The turtle is a force of benevolence and is guided by compassion, whereas IT represents chaos, evil, and fear. They are diametrically opposed. Because they are both interdimensional entities with equal powers, the turtle could kill IT if it wanted to, therefore it's understandable that IT is terrified of it.
Yup! He's a demon and the general idea is if you are not scare, it will only be harder for Pennywise to kill you as he needs to bait you. He can kill you if he wants to anytime and doesn't care. Although, if you are not scared, he will either leave you be for a little while or just kill you in the instant .
You've also probably read all of King's horror novels, including The Dark Tower series, which reveals that Pennywise's archenemy is The Turtle.
She is the daughter of Pennywise and was brought up by him and incorporated into all of his evil ideas. She's a part of the whole thing. It's a transformation.”
It is a shape-shifting creature known as a Glamour, who is billions of years old. Although It lived on planet Earth for many years, It originated in a void/dimension outside the regions of space known as the Macroverse.